Reduction gear



Oct. 12,1337. CQRBIN 2,095,794

' REDUCTION em R Filed July 20; 1934 INVENTOR GEOHGEM (ORBIM ATTORNEY I Patented Get. 12, 1937 i I r I i STATES ears 'REDUCTEON GEAR George M. Corbin, Paterson, N. J., assignor, by mesnc assignments, to The Reed Propeller 00.,

.Inc., Garden .City, N. E, a corporation or New .York

Application July 20, 1934, Serial No. 236,193 1 Claim. (01. rt -305) This invention relates to reduction'gears, and or in the spacing of the planet cage bearings, the specific showing of the drawing illustrates a will result in one pinion taking an undue progear suitable for aircraft engine propeller drives. portion of the load and, in fact, if the tooth re- In certain respects the present invention comlationship error exceeds the tooth back-lash, it

5 prises improvements on the invention disclosed -will prevent the gear being assembled at all. ,5

under Patent No. 1,950,971, Roland Chilton, and The Patent No. 1,864,170 discloses a slippable conv in the drawing there is also included structure nection for planet or layshaft' gears whereby the disclosed in Patent No. 1,864,170,'R0land Chilton. parts, after initial assembly, may be submitted to In the first mentioned patent there is disclosed sumcient load to slip the driving connection ln a simplified form of planet cage so organized with each pinion, thus automatically assuring uniform 1O respect to a planet pinion that the deflections in load distribution, whereupon the connections may one member compensate for the deflections in be fully tigh against P ss b ty f pp e the other, so as to maintain uniform contact in service. This provisio is of Particular advanacross the width of the teeth, permitting the ta e in t e c pound pla eta y e o t e p parts to be deliberately designed to give a subent invention. t 15 ,stantial spring drive efiect. While this structure nother bje of the Present invention is to has been in successful use for single step planeprovide a spring drive means between the comtary gears, such gears have limitations as to the pound planet pinlons whereby overloading, as maximum reduction ratio t i Beyond from inaccuracies in the teeth, is absorbed.

1 to 1 ratio the pinions become undesirably In the d aw 20 small if the ring gear be used as the'driver, as is Fig- 1 is afr mentary axl -1 section through desired in order to obtain low tooth loads. Also, th nose of an en i incorporating the ear f a ratio of about 4:3 is as near to unity as can be s invention; and conveniently obtained with the single step gears, Fi 2 is a perspective View 0! the Planet because the sun gear diameter becomes too small rier and Propeller Shaft m 25 to accommodate the necessary size of propeller Referring fi st to F 0 des tes a nose shaft. or gear case attached to a front wall of the usual Accordingly, objects of the present invention crankcase A crankshaft has forward include the provision of aisimple and improved ten i 1 p l is On w i is mounted a P self-aligning means applicable to compound planpeller shaft I8 splined at 20 to take a conventional 30 etary reduction gears, that is to say, gears propeller hub and provided with bushings 22, 24, wherein two pinions (usually of different diam-' On which t Propeller shaft I8 is free to rotate eters) mesh with the sun gear and the ring gear on eiextension The Propeller respectively. Sucha gear affords a very much shaft'is further provided with a disc or web 26 wider range in available ratios than the nonfrom Which b05585 23 p o On it r d as 35 compounded type, while retaining the advantages ShOWn- This m er may be scallop d circumof low tooth pressures which are inherent in e y, as indicated at o o p planetary gears when the ring gear is the driver. a ms r the pp f the bosses In the single-step planetary gears it is or, e ber 8, 6. s suppo d in t e p opel- 40 advantage to provide th maximum number f ler thrust bearing 32, the inner race of which is 40 pinions that can be accommodated and as many amped by a ut 3 1n t usual way- The outer as six pinions are often used. For assembly race is clamped in the nose or gear case lll by reasons it is necessary, however, that the 'numan extension 36 of a fix d or s n ar 8 which is her of teeth in the pinion mating gears be a mulcured by bolts All.

' tiple of the number of planet arms in orderthat splined t0 the crankshaft I4 s a ub 42 Of an 45 these may be equally spaced, and this'comprises annular driving r Meshed Wi this d iva limitation in the selection of tooth numbers his gear 44 is a large planet pinion 4 in ral whereby the number of ratios within the availwith a relatively slender shaft 48 provided with able range is limited. In conventional compound a taper end 50 and a threaded extension 52 en- 50 gears wherein two sets of mating teeth must face sed by a nut 54, by which a smaller planet 50 torize, these limitations are accentuated and pinion ,56 is clamp d Ove t t p end 50 for there is the additional difllculty that an identical unitary rotation with the gear 46. The end of timing relation must be maintained between the shaft 68 nearest to the pinion 46 is piloted specific teeth of the two gears comprising each in the hollow shaft carrying the pinion 56, said 55 planet pinion. Anyinaccuracies in this relation hollow shaft being borne in the boss 28.- The 55 pinion 56 meshes with the sun gear 38. The axial spacing of the planet pinions 46, 56, with respect to the relatively thin web 26 is such that the resultant of the tooth loads on these pinions falls substantially on the neutral axis of web whereby this member is relieved of substantial bending loads. Stated in another way, the diameter of the gear 46 bears a relation to its axial distance from the web 26 similar to the relation of the diameter of the gear 56 to its axial distance from the'web 26. It will be seen that the thin member 26 of the form indicated in Fig. 2 will have great strength to resist the tangential driving loads to which it is subject, but that it will be flexible for slight angulation of the gear axis out of the plane of the section of Fig. 1 whereby the appropriate distribution of load between the pinion teeth 56, 56, isassured in spite of the usual small errors in fabrication. This effect is further enhanced by the torsional yield of the slender shaft '58 which gives an appreciablespring drive effect.

On assembly of a. particular set of gears, the teeth of gears M, 46 and 38, 56 are meshed at random (which would be impossible if the gears 56, 46 were rigidly connected, as by splines). The nuts 54 are then partly tightened until a substantial load is necessary to slip the taper connections 50. Such a driving load is then applied to the assembly and slight slippage is enforced to bring all planet pinions into equal contact with their mating gears, whereupon the nuts are completely tightened and secured by locking member 58 each engaging both the nut and gear 55 as shown. The hand of the threads in the nuts 54 is preferably selected so that should any slippage in operation of the connections 50 occur it will be in the direction of tightening the nut through the locking device 58.

While I have described my invention in detail in its present preferred embodiment, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art, after understanding my invention, that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit'or scope thereof. I aim in the appended claim to cover all such modifications and changes.

What is claimed is:

In a reduction gear, a planet-carrying disc having a bearing adjacent its periphery, the bearing axis being parallel to the disc axis, a hollow shaft rotatable in said bearing having a pinion integral therewith, the pinion lying to one side of said disc, a torsionally resilient shaft piloted in said hollow shaft and having a second pinion extending therefrom on the side of said disc other than that on which said first pinion lies, said pinions being axially spaced from said disc a distance directly proportional to their respective pitch diameters, and an adjustable. driving connection between the anti-pinion end of said resilient shaft and the pinion end of said hollow shaft.

' GEORGE M. CORB IN. 

